Week 13 -- Panthers grades vs. Falcons

Published: Sunday, December 9, 2012 at 05:35 PM.

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RUN OFFENSE: The recipe for success is 30 or more carries for the Panthers. They got 32 attempts on Sunday, which means they’re 96-20 all-time when they accomplish the feat. Cam Newton’s team-high 116 yards on nine carries with the amazing 72-yard TD keeper led the way. DeAngelo Williams had 56 yards on 17 carries. Grade: A-

PASS OFFENSE: Cam Newton admitted he missed some throws – all of them too high – including a potential TD pass to Louis Murphy in the second quarter when Carolina was leading 13-0. Still, Newton was an efficient 23-35 for 287 yards with two TDs, one sack and no interceptions. Grade: B

RUN DEFENSE: Jumping ahead so quickly was huge for the Panthers and it appeared Atlanta simply gave up on its run game. At halftime, the Falcons had two carries for three yards and finished with 11 tries for 35 yards with a long run of a mere six yards. Grade: A+

RUN OFFENSE: The recipe for success is 30 or more carries for the Panthers. They got 32 attempts on Sunday, which means they’re 96-20 all-time when they accomplish the feat. Cam Newton’s team-high 116 yards on nine carries with the amazing 72-yard TD keeper led the way. DeAngelo Williams had 56 yards on 17 carries. Grade: A-

PASS OFFENSE: Cam Newton admitted he missed some throws – all of them too high – including a potential TD pass to Louis Murphy in the second quarter when Carolina was leading 13-0. Still, Newton was an efficient 23-35 for 287 yards with two TDs, one sack and no interceptions. Grade: B

RUN DEFENSE: Jumping ahead so quickly was huge for the Panthers and it appeared Atlanta simply gave up on its run game. At halftime, the Falcons had two carries for three yards and finished with 11 tries for 35 yards with a long run of a mere six yards. Grade: A+

PASS DEFENSE: Matt Ryan threw for 342 yards and two touchdowns, but he was limited to 40 yards in the opening half as the Panthers took its big lead. Ryan also faced considerable pressure, though he was only sacked twice for 15 yards. Grade: B-

SPECIAL TEAMS: There was little to cheer about, but perhaps more importantly, little to complain about either. Carolina had three kickoff returns (by Armond Smith) for 54 yards and Joe Adams had two fair catches on punts. Atlanta didn’t return a punt and returned three kickoffs for a 16.3 average. And Graham Gano nailed all three field goals as Carolina built a 16-0 halftime lead. Grade: B

COACHING: Perhaps Rivera’s emotional end to his news conference when talking about giving the game ball to Thomas Davis was the culmination of a season of hearing about how his job is in jeopardy. Whatever it was, it also came after a game in which Carolina played as well as could be reasonably expected. Other than yielding 302 second-half passing yards, little could be criticized. Grade: A